Elizabeth Rogers was born in North Petherton, Somerset, England, in 1886, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Ann Rogers (née Harden). Her father was a butcher, and the family resided at Fore Street, North Petherton. She was one of nine children.
She was an assistant in a ladies drapery store, and then in April 1914, she had immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Also living in Toronto at the time were her sister, Mrs. Sarah May Fish, and her brother-in-law Mr. J. Fish. The Fish family was completed by Elizabeth Rogers’ three nieces, Eileen Fish, aged ten years, Marian Fish aged eight and Joan Fish, who was a baby.
On the outbreak of the Great War, her brother-in-law had enlisted in a regiment of The Canadian Expeditionary Force and in the spring of 1915, the family had decided to return to Bristol. As a consequence, they all booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania which left New York harbour just after mid-day on 1st May 1915.
When the ship was struck, on the afternoon of 7th May, by a torpedo fired by the German submarine U-20, Miss Rogers was carrying baby Joan on deck and was in the company of another Bristolian, Mr. Edward Lander.
He immediately sought places for them in a nearby lifeboat, but after assurances from the crew that there was no need for alarm, they got out again onto the deck. When it was obvious that the ship was about to sink, Mr. Lander tried once more to get them all into the lifeboat, but the liner sank, taking the lifeboat down with her.
Although Joan Fish was drowned as a result, Mr. Lander and Miss Rogers survived. The other members of the Fish family survived also.
Although it was at first thought that Elizabeth Rogers had perished, as she did not appear in the first list of survivors, she did in fact survive, though she did not have a lifebelt and was wearing a thick coat! Having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, she eventually made it back to her native North Petherton, via Rosslare in County Wexford, having caught a ferry to Fishguard in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
In an amazing co-incidence, she was able to complete most of her journey with the surviving members of her family, having literally bumped into her sister Sarah Fish, at Cork railway station!
Although there were also four other people named Rogers, from Toronto, travelling on board the sailing apart from Elizabeth Rogers and her brother Richard, namely Mr. and Mrs. F.A. Rogers, Mr. P.W. Rogers, and Mr. R. Rogers, it is not thought that they were related to Elizabeth Rogers and her sister.
After surviving the sinking of the Lusitania, nothing further can be found about her.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Somerset England Church of England Baptisms, 1813 – 1914, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passengers Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Bristol Press, Western Daily Press, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.